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Ranjan is telling Baloo the bear Mowgli and Shanti are in danger
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This character has multiple pages, because of it's differences in all the differend movies, series and books.
This article is about the character from currently all the movies, series and books.
You may be looking for Kaa (original), Kaa (2016), Kaa (1994), Kaa (2018), Kaa (1997), Kaa (1942), Kaa (Shōnen Mowgli), Kaa (Jetlag film), Kaa (Adventures of Mowgli), Kaa (3D TV series) or Kaa (1990).

Kaa is the secondary antagonist of film The Jungle Book. He is an enormous snake with an equally large appetite - specifically for Mowgli. Kaa's most dangerous attributes are his hypnotic eyes, which he uses to manipulate unsuspecting prey and lure them into his jaws.

Personality[]

Kaa is a sly, devious Indian Rock Python. He speaks with a soft, often entrancing tone to either lure his victims into a weary, dreamlike state or manipulate them into bestowing their trust, only to devour them unexpectedly. He furthers this by the use of his iconic ability to hypnotize his prey with his eyes, rendering them enchanted and under his command. A powerful and dangerous ability, Kaa is a feared inhabitant of the jungle. This is evidenced when the usually composed and fearless Bagheera was visibly terrified and pleaded with him when the panther stopped him from eating Mowgli. Such fear, however, does not resonate with the unofficial ruler of the jungle, Shere Khan the tiger. Kaa holds a disliking for Khan, seeing him as a hypocrite and believing the act of killing for pleasure—as opposed to survival—to be dishonorable. The two beasts are often at odds, though Shere Khan views Kaa as an "eyes and ears" of the jungle, relying on him to assist his search for Mowgli at one point in the film.

While not inherently malevolent, Kaa is still a fairly villainous character. His first attempt to devour Mowgli was a casual and opportunistic means to eat and survive. However his later goal to eat the man-cub was mainly driven out of spite, swearing revenge on th boy after his first attempt to eat Mowgli ended in humiliating defeat. Furthermore, he is perfectly willing to kill those who get in the way of his meals, as seen when he sadistically hypnotized, and almost harmed Bagheera.

His sadism is further emphasized by how he gloats over Mowgli's helpless situation before eating him. He displayed even more sadism towards Shanti as he did not only gloat over her helplessness, but also outright revealed to her that he intended to eat her knowing she was unable to do anything about it. He enjoys teasing and playing with his food, hypnotized or not. He playfully tugged at Mowgli's wrists and ankles to stop him from escaping, and later savoured the time before the kill when he hypnotized the man-cub and made him sleepwalk over his body.

Nevertheless, Kaa seems to insist on giving his victims a merciful end as he hypnotizes them into a state of bliss or sleep before eating them. Although powerful enough to choke the life out of his victims, he prefers to swallow them alive and whole unable to feel pain or fear. Kaa has even admitted to himself that he is sympathetic towards Mowgli to a certain extent, before remembering his own intentions to make a meal out of the boy.

Kaa seems to have a taste for humans, calling them "delicious" and "succulent". Even when very young, he seemed to relish the idea of eating man. Whether he has ever successfully caught and eaten a human is unknown.

Though dangerous, manipulative and cunning, Kaa is not without his faults. Although he only hypnotized Mowgli when he was sure Bagheera was too sleepy to notice him, it was his own cockiness that woke the panther and made him lose his supper. He can be clumsy and easily sidetracked from his primary objective: to hypnotize and eat Mowgli. This results in his interactions with the man-cub to often end in humiliation to some degree.

Abilities[]

  • Hypnosis/Mind Control: Kaa's most infamous power is his unique ability to hypnotize others through eye contact and have them follow his commands. Unlike the original book where Kaa could hypnotize others through the "Hunger Dance" and could only hypnotize animals, Kaa here hypnotized with colored spirals and could hypnotize humans as well. Once fully hypnotized, his victims enter a trance with wide smiles on their faces which would persist even after falling asleep. This ability also works when someone sees their reflection in the water. However, his powers are not without limits. His victims' susceptibility depends on their willpower. For example, Shanti was very easily hypnotized due to her submissive nature and Bagheera's orderly mindset made him unable to resist. Mowgli was less susceptible due to his stubborn nature and strong will, but was still worn down over an extended period of hypnosis. This has prompted Kaa to use his cunning to either make the boy too relaxed to fight back or to trick him into accidentally look into his eyes without time to react. It appears that repeated exposure can make a victim more susceptible. Initially it took an extended period of eye-contact to hypnotize Mowgli whereas during their second encounter the man-cub fell into a trance after only a few seconds. Finally, Kaa's hypnosis appears to have no effect on iron-willed individuals such as Shere Khan.
  • Powerful Coils: As a constrictor, makes use of his powerful coils to catch and immobilize prey. While pythons will typically squeeze their prey to the point of suffocation or cardiac arrest, Kaa seems to prefer to swallow his his prey alive and uses his coils in tandem with hypnosis to ensnare a victim. They appear to have a relaxing effect, as Mowgli only began to succumb to Kaa's spell when the python began wrapping him up, and only fell into a trance after being choked and squeezed all over during their first encounter. Kaa's entire body is extremely dexterous, able to form themselves into all sorts of shapes including hammocks, crosses and stair cases. They are also very strong; Kaa was able to perfectly balance Mowgli upside down on the tip on his tail without effort and can very easily climb trees. The coils are, however, very heavy. They have dragged him down to the ground when dislodged from tree branches on more than one occasion, and he has not appear to notice Mowgli shoving them off tree branches until it was too late.
The Jungle Book (2016) Poster -1
Spoiler Warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Biography[]

Books[]

Kaa the Rock python was Mowgli's wise mentor. He, Baloo and Bagheera sang for Mowgli "The Outsong" of the jungle. Kaa was a huge and powerful snake, unusually long, more than 100 years old and still in his prime. Bagheera and Baloo enlisted Kaa's help to rescue Mowgli when the man-cub was captured by the Bandar-log and taken to an abandoned human city. Kaa broke down the wall of the building in which Mowgli was imprisoned and used his serpentine hypnosis to draw the monkeys toward his waiting jaws. Bagheera and Baloo were also hypnotized, but Mowgli was immune because he was human, and broke the spell on his friends.

Years later Kaa convinces Mowgli to visit a treasure chamber guarded by an old cobra beneath an ancient city. The cobra tried to kill Mowgli but its poison had dried up. Mowgli took an ankus from the treasure to keep as a weapon.

In later years, Mowgli asked Kaa for help when his wolf pack is threatened by rampaging dholes (the red dogs of the title). Kaa goes into a trance so that he can search his century-long memory for a stratagem to defeat the dogs.

With Kaa's help Mowgli tricked the dholes into attacking prematurely. Kaa took no part in the resulting battle, but Mowgli and the wolves finally killed all the dhole, though not without grievous losses.

The Jungle Book (1967)[]

Kaa comes across Mowgli and Bagheera in the branches of a large tree that the pair has chosen to spend the night in, just after Mowgli tells the panther he was able to look after himself. Half-asleep, Bagheera is unaware of Kaa as he drops in and inspects the young boy with considerable relish. He smacks his lips and calls the boy a "Delicious Man-Cub", but Mowgli is more annoyed than intimidated. Mowgli angrily tells Kaa to leave him alone, only for Bagheera to sleepily order him to go to sleep as he has assumed Mowgli was speaking to him. Kaa decides to take advantage of the situation and begins hypnotizing Mowgli to sleep with the intent of devouring him without alerting the panther. Mowgli tries to resist the hypnosis, but is unable to look away. Kaa proceeds to wrap his coils around the boy, providing him with overwhelming comfort and making him unable to physically resist. The relaxed Mowgli is unable to resist further and begins to succumb to the spell, but just manages to cry out to Bagheera for help. Kaa immediately silences the boy by constricting his neck with his tail, making him gulp loudly and then squeezing him tightly all over. Coiled from waist to neck and unable to resist any further, Mowgli falls into a trance and can only blissfully smile as Kaa admires his catch.

Bagheera sleepily tells Mowgli to go to sleep, unaware that Kaa had fully hypnotized and coiled the boy just feet behind him. Kaa chuckles, musing to himself and his happily smiling prey that the man-cub "wouldn't be there in the morning". As he lifts his freshly hypnotized man-cub off the branch, Mowgli obeys the command to sleep and Kaa prepares him for eating.

Ironically, it is this laugh awakens Bagheera who turns to see Kaa bearing down on the hypnotized man-cub with his mouth open wide ready to swallow him. Bagheera rushes to the rescue, striking Kaa in the face just before Mowgli is eaten. However, Kaa is angered by the interference and begins to hypnotize Bagheera, failing to notice that Mowgli awoke when he dropped him. The boy shoves Kaa's massive coils off the branch with his feet, resulting in Kaa falling to the ground in a heap. While Mowgli slaps Bagheera awake, Kaa slithers off with a knot in his tail swearing revenge on the boy. He vows to get the boy back in his coils again, but Mowgli only laughs at the snake's crippling and humiliating defeat.

day later, Mowgli runs away from his guardians, feeling betrayed and upset. He wanders aimlessly through the jungle until he finally sits down under a tree. Almost immediately Kaa's tail comes down from the canopy and hoists him up into the branches. Mowgli is initially shocked to see Kaa, but wants nothing to do with the snake and untangles himself telling the snake to leave him alone. Kaa tries to hypnotize him again, but Mowgli immediately looks away. The snake uses his tail to turn Mowgli's head around to look him in the eyes, but Mowgli has learned from his last encounter and is wary of the snake's gaze.

Feigning to be hurt that the boy doesn't trust him, Kaa pretends to be benevolent. He playfully toys with Mowgli by wrapping his tail around the boy's wrist and ankle to stop him leaving (much to the man-cub's annoyance), as he tries to convince him that he wants to help him. The skeptical Mowgli frees his wrist only to have the tail immediately catch him by his ankle. The boy struggles to untangle his ankle while telling Kaa that he has no reason to trust him after their previous encounter, but Kaa insists that he has come to sympathize with him and has since had a change of heart. Kaa tells Mowgli he intends to protect him so he can stay in the jungle. Mowgli remains skeptical but out of curiosity he lowers his defences and asks the snake how he plans to keep his word. Kaa keeps his plan ambiguous, making the offer on the condition he first has the man-cub's absolute trust while pressing his forehead to Mowgli's. Mowgli's eyes momentarily widen , bu he turns away from the snake, saying he doesn't trust anyone anymore. However, Kaa manages to trick Mowgli into letting his guard down by blindfolding him with a makeshift turban from his coils, insisting he is not like his friends who supposedly betrayed him.

The man-cub struggles to push him off his head, only to gaze directly into Kaa's eyes. With no time to react and unable to look away, Mowgli is successfully hypnotized once again. Kaa sings "Trust in Me" to him, toying with the helpless boy while having him sleepwalk on his coils high above the jungle floor. Kaa then rocks Mowgli in a makeshift hammock of coils, before balancing him on his tail tip. Satisfied his prey is deeply asleep, he slides the hypnotized man-cub back into his coils and wraps him up ready for eating.

Before Kaa can devour Mowgli, the suspicious Shere Khan stops by after hearing Kaa's singing. Knowing the tiger is looking for Mowgli, Kaa is forced to hide the sleeping boy in the branches above. Kaa pretends to act surprised by the tiger's visit and tells him that he was merely singing to himself to sleep off sinus troubles. The snake tries to trick Shere Khan into letting his guard down in order to hypnotize him as he did with Mowgli, but the tiger is unsympathetic and nonchalantly resists the hypnosis before shoving his head to the ground. They are then interrupted by Mowgli's snoring above them, convincing Shere Khan that Kaa is hiding something and inspects his coils. Kaa uses his cunning to hide the man-cub while showing the tiger his seemingly empty coils, convincing Shere Khan that he does not have Mowgli. Khan leaves to continue the search, but not before threatening Kaa to inform him before anyone else should he happen to come across the man-cub.

Once he is out of earshot, Kaa shivers in disgust of the tiger's sadism, inadvertently causing his coils to unravel around Mowgli and wake him from the trance. Kaa takes a moment to pity Mowgli for being targeted by the tiger for no good reason, but quickly dismisses the thought once he remembers his own intentions. Licking his lips and relishing the thought of his hypnotized man-cub supper waiting in the branches, he does not notice Mowgli climbing out of his coils. Mowgli is able to push Kaa's coils off the branch and the snake is dragged to the ground once again. On the ground, Mowgli confronts Kaa and accused him of lying, which he wasn't. Kaa, assuring Mowgli that it's like what he said, that he indeed cannot trust anyone, attacks him but is once again stopped by a knot in his tail getting caught in a bamboo cluster. Mowgli flees from Kaa as fast as he can, leaving the snake to express his animosity toward the boy. Despite his second humiliating defeat, however, Kaa apparently gives up trying to catch him as he slithers off to lick his wounds.

The Jungle Book 2[]

Kaa returned once again as the secondary antagonist but plays a relatively smaller role in the sequel than he did in the 1967 film and his name isn't even used at all. One night, Kaa appears when Mowgli meets up with Baloo near the beginning of the film. Like before, Kaa attempts to eat Mowgli but faces many accidents and injuries as he pursues them. Mowgli and Baloo remain unaware of Kaa's presence, and the two walk away unharmed.

Kaa angrily states that he never wants to see another man-cub again, but changes his mind after he comes across the young girl Shanti, who unknowingly burns Kaa's tail with a torch while searching for her friend Mowgli in the jungle. Licking his lips surreptitiously, Kaa lurks in the trees above the girl in order to frighten her and surprise her when the time is right. By the time Kaa manages to corner her, Shanti realizes that someone is stalking her and frighteningly asks who it is. Kaa then finally reveals himself and as Shanti lacks survival skills, she falls easily for Kaa's trick, looking directly into his eyes and gives a blissful smile when the hypnosis starts taking effect, putting her in a trance immediately.

Once Shanti drops her torch, she is left completely defenseless, allowing Kaa to sadistically gloat over her helplessness as much as he pleases. Kaa inquires whether Shanti is lost, stroking her hair before making her nod her head in agreement. Slithering around his victim, Kaa asks Shanti if she's hungry. Nuzzling her cheek, Kaa whispers into Shanti's ear that he is starving, gloating about the girl's impending doom. The snake makes Shanti step on top of a boulder and positions her to be devoured. Shanti looks up at Kaa vacantly as he hovered above her, preparing to strike. Fortunately, Ranjan saves Shanti's life by pulling her away from Kaa's jaws just as the snake was about to eat her, making him swallow the boulder Shanti was standing on instead. Shanti falls to the ground and snaps out of the trance as Ranjan mercilessly beats up Kaa with a stick. Kaa flees from Ranjan and tries to slither down a hill but the weight of the boulder causes him to tumble down until he hits a coconut tree.

Kaa laments over his humiliating defeat but is suddenly encountered by Shere Khan in his search for Mowgli, who mocks the snake until he hears him vent his frustration over a man-cub. Shere Khan interrogates him, thinking he is referring to Mowgli and demands information about his whereabouts. Kaa assures Shere Khan that all he knows is that Mowgli has recently left the Man Village, but truthfully has no idea where he is at the moment. Shere Khan does not believe him and begins to lose his temper as he reiterates his demand. To save himself from Shere Khan's wrath, Kaa fearfully lies to the tiger that Mowgli is in the swamp. Shere Khan doubts his claim but nevertheless lets him go after threatening to make him pay if he is lying. Kaa insists Mowgli is in the swamp and even assures him that he would come with him if not for the boulder he accidentally swallowed earlier, which he fears is going to cause him indigestion very soon.

Kaa is not seen again for the rest of the film but is mentioned by Shere Khan when he arrives at the swamp where Mowgli is nowhere to be seen and angrily splashes the water after realizing that Kaa lied to him. He is mentioned again by Shanti to Baloo, who briefly said she was attacked by a snake. Lastly, after Shanti, Mowgli, and Rajan reunite with their families, Ranjan proudly tells his father that he saved Shanti's life from a snake.

Jungle Cubs[]

Kaa appeared as a much younger snake in the Jungle Cubs, with Baloo, Bagheera, Colonel Hathi, King Louie, and Shere Khan. Here, he is voiced by Jim Cummings and, unlike the movie, he is a protagonist, which interestingly, actually follows the original story, unlike the film.

As a younger snake, Kaa has yet to master hypnosis at his young age, usually failing or hypnotizing the wrong person by mistake. Kaa is more of the cowardly friend in the group, often being doubtful when an adventure is at hand. Most of the time, his fearfulness can be understandable, being that the children often find themselves in some of the most dangerous predicaments in their jungle. Kaa is often seen attempting to eat a local shrew with a wise-cracking persona. However, as the shrew is too clever for the snake, he ultimately fails in the end.

During the first season, Kaa appears in the same color as in the original movie, whilst in the second season, his skin is light green and his spots are magenta. He also appears to be slightly shorter than the previous season, despite turning older with the rest of the cubs, and also still has the same voice and actor.

Many episodes revolve around Kaa, including one where his birthday arrived, and yet everyone forgot. To make up for it, they acted as if his hypnotism was excellent and pretended to be in trances. In the end, however, Kaa discovers this and breaks down. His friends comfort him and apologize, leaving all to be well.

In the Jungle Cubs: Born to Be Wild DVD, Kaa, as an adult, was the first character to be revisited by Baloo, Mowgli, and Bagheera. Here, he attempts to devour Mowgli whilst he rested, but Baloo foiled the snake by grabbing his tail and throwing him into a gorge. once he got stuck in a hole in the ruins because he was eating to much.

The Jungle Book (2016 film)[]

Kaa appears in the 2016 live-action film adaptation as the tertiary antagonist. Unlike in the previous adaptations, this incarnation of Kaa is a female snake, voiced by Scarlett Johansson. In this version, she is depicted as a Burmese Python and is of similar size to her book counterpart; some 30 feet long.

Kaa first appears when Mowgli stumbles upon her territory deep in the forest, after he is separated from Bagheera by the evil tiger named Shere Khan, where he discovers her shed snakeskin. After climbing into the trees and chasing animals that stole his food, Kaa begins to speak to him from above the trees before revealing herself to him.

Luring him in by promising to keep him safe, Kaa hypnotizes him and reveals that Mowgli came to live in the jungle because Shere Khan killed his father as they were traveling between villages and that Bagheera later found Mowgli and brought him over to the wolves for protection. She also reveals to him the power of the "Red Flower" (fire) and its dangers in her vision. During her storytelling, she attempts to devour him, but a passing sloth bear named Baloo attacks Kaa and rescues Mowgli, freeing him in the process. Kaa isn't seen again for the rest of the film and it is unknown if Baloo killed her or not. During the end credits, however, she is heard singing her song, "Trust in Me".

The Jungle Book (1994 movie)[]

A far more menacing incarnation of the character appeared in the 1994 live-action adaptation. He was brought to life using an anaconda but the bulk of his appearances were made using a mixture of CGI and animatronics. Kaa seemed to serve King Louie, killing any intruders to the city when the orangutan clapped his hands 9 times to summon him. Kaa attacked Mowgli inside the monkey city by tackling him into the moat and attempted to drown him, but Mowgli wounded him with a bejeweled dagger, the python is then seen fleeing in a cloud of his blood.

By the time Mowgli returns to the city with Captain William Boone (the main villain of the film) and Kitty, Kaa has fully healed from their prior confrontation. Mowgli flees with Kitty when he hears King Louie summoning the snake. Boone starts gathering as much treasure as he can, but suddenly notices that the monkeys have gone silent; Kaa suddenly appears, then scares the injured Boone into the moat, where the heavy load of treasure, he is carrying weighs him straight to the bottom in a cloud of his own blood. Desperately trying to struggle free, Boone sees the skeletal remains of Kaa's past victims, just seconds before the villain finally meets his death by the snake.

The most likely reason for this change in adaptation is because, in the original story of The Jungle Book, the treasure within the monkey city was guarded by a cobra.

Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle[]

In Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, Kaa is closer to her original character but is again female, larger in size, with dark green scales, light yellow scales, more human facial features, large lips and is voiced by Cate Blanchett. She is also the narrator of the story and seems to have some sort of an infatuation with Mowgli.

Kaa first appears watching as Shere Khan, a Bengal tiger with a crippled leg, breaks jungle law by hunting down a family of humans, with only a child escaping. She witnesses Bagheera, a panther drawn to the scene, rescue the man-cub, Mowgli, and takes him to a family of Indian wolves being raised by Nisha and Vihaan.

Later after Shere Khan abducts Mowgli and Bagheera and Baloo come to rescue him, Kaa enters, knocking Shere Khan back and saving Mowgli by wrapping her coils around the rocks he is on. She orders Mowgli to be left alone, flicking her prehensile tongue as she hisses. Khan leaves and Kaa devours the monkeys off screen.

After being healed by Baloo, Mowgli goes to Kaa’s lair where the python is waiting for him. Kaa slithers around asking the boy if he is afraid of her. When he replies no, the huge snake slithers right into his face, saying sometimes fear is the only intelligent response. She smiles and asks if he thinks so, but Mowgli is too scared to reply. Kaa tells him to say something or she’d get bored. Kaa seductively slithers around him, along herself and back to his face, saying if she gets bored, she gets hungry, as her massive lips near his face. Worried she’d actually eat him if he doesn’t answer, Mowgli asks if it is true that she knows the past and future. Avoiding the question, Kaa leans into his face and slithers around asking what he wanted from her. When he asked why she saved him from the monkeys, Kaa replies by asking why Hathi saved him from the pit. Kaa seductively wraps him in her coils saying the whole jungle was watching him and explains not everyone is unusual. As she slithers around, Kaa tells Mowgli that he isn’t quite a wolf, a man, or neither, or both. Then she lifts him up and wraps him up completely in her coils as if he was her prey. Mowgli tries to pry free, but Kaa’s grip is to strong. Kaa tells Mowgli that they can both agree that he is some the jungle hasn’t seen before, and she releases him. Kaa backs him up to the wall of her lair and reveals that she believes he can restore harmony to the jungle. Mowgli learns that Kaa has been watching him the whole time and that she believes that he has the power to change the jungle. She then directs him to face Shere Khan, who is again challenging Akela for Mowgli. Kaa tells him she’ll be watching.

Later, Kaa watches as Mowgli kills Shere Khan for good and gives the jungle a voice. As long as Mowgli lived and watched over it, there was peace in the jungle.

House of Mouse[]

Kaa makes several cameos in the show House of Mouse.

In the episode "Ask Von Drake", he is seen being threatened by Shere Khan while Ludwig Von Drake sings a song.

In "Turkey Day", Kaa was seen attempting to devour Mowgli after not receiving a turkey for dinner.

In "Jiminy Cricket", he is seen sitting at a table with Baloo, Mowgli, Shere Khan, and Bagheera.

In "Unplugged Club", King Louie was seen grabbing Kaa (who was hanging above next to him) by the neck and shaking him like a rattle as Mickey Mouse went over to thank Zeus for using one of his lightning bolts to repower the club.

In "Max's Embarrassing Date", he is seen sitting a table with Sir Hiss.

In "Goofy's Menu Magic", Kaa is seen having coiled and hypnotized Mowgli when Mickey mentioned the guests were getting hungry.

In Mickey's House of Villains, Kaa joins his fellow villains in taking over the House of Mouse on Halloween. He joins in the hostile takeover during the song "It's Our House Now!", while attempting to hypnotize Minnie, during which he briefly reprises "Trust in Me". He later stands by Jafar's side when he battles Mickey and soon enough flees with the other villains when Mickey and his friends defeat Jafar.

Other appearances[]

A pink snake resembling Kaa was among the soccer match spectators in Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

A snake-like character resembling Kaa made a cameo during the final scene of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, with the other Disney characters.

A snake resembling Kaa made a cameo in DuckTales episode, "Sweet Duck of Youth". He was seen when Scrooge was walking through the swamps alone.

A snake resembling to Kaa Made a Cameo in Champions Along with Other Jungle Book Characters And other Disney film Characters.

Video games[]

Mickey Mousecapade[]

In the US release of Mickey Mousecapade, a snake heavily resembling Kaa appears as a boss enemy.

The Jungle Book Groove Party[]

Kaa plays a role in the game, where he sings his own original song, "A Mood for Food"; replacing "Trust in Me" as the villainous song meant to manipulate a helpless Mowgli.

Other games[]

In Disney Universe, Kaa does not appear as an add-on character costume but appears as an accessory on a costume weapon. Concept art for the Medusa power up earlier showed 3 snakes resembling Kaa for the mask’s hair.

In Kinect Disneyland Adventures, Kaa is only briefly mentioned by Mowgli during meet-and-greets. "If anyone sees Kaa slithering around anywhere, better let me deal with him."

Trivia[]

  • Dick and Do/Tom and Tab the Hyenas from Kimba the White Lion resemble Kaa, except in Aryll's New World from Astro Boy Productions, where they're renamed Gal and Cal.
  • The Disney Kaa seems to be modeled after the reticulated python more than the Indian python, as the reticulated has in fact been known to eat humans (or try to).
  • In the 1967 Disney movie, Kaa is a hungry giant snake who is nothing like the original version (this was most likely due to the developers' belief that the public of the time would not accept a snake as a heroic character). Instead of being a wise mentor to Mowgli he is portrayed as bumbling and cowardly villain, possibly meant to be a reticulated python which are known to treat humans as food (but Indian pythons never do). Kaa tries (and fails) to eat Mowgli on two different occasions, only to be foiled by Bagheera and Shere Khan. In the sequel, he tries to eat Shanti, however, he is foiled by Mowgli's foster brother, Ranjan. Kaa was voiced by Sterling Holloway in The Jungle Book and is currently voiced by Jim Cummings. Cumming's portrayal receives criticism due to the voice being quite too similar to his Winnie-the-Pooh voice.
  • In the 1994 live-action Disney version, Kaa serves as a minion of King Louie who summons him by clapping 9 times. He guards the treasure of the monkey city from thieves and attacks and kills intruders when summoned. He's also far more aggressive and menacing in this version than any other.
  • Originally Kaa was to be voiced by Parley Baer, but was replaced by Sterling Holloway due to being broke.
  • Kaa was considered to be voiced by Jonathan Winters, Walter Matthau, Mel Brooks and Kirk Douglas, before being chosen by Sterling Holloway.
  • In Disney's 2016 CGI remake, Kaa is once again portrayed as a villain, but this time he is depicted as female.
  • In the related television series Jungle Cubs, Kaa is portrayed as a baby snake and even friends with the other animal-characters.
  • Kaa also appears in Shonen Mowgli, and is more like the Kaa in the books. He is a mentor to Mowgli, but instead of resembling a python, he resembles a large green viper-like snake (though he is clearly a python by size and weaponry).
  • Kaa also appears in the Russian version Adventures of Mowgli where like in the anime, this Kaa is also a mentor to Mowgli. He's voiced by Vladimir Ushakov in Russian, and Sam Elliott in English.
  • Kaa also appears in the 2010-CGI-TV-Series which also portrays him as an ally for Mowgli.
  • In Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, Kaa is closer to her original character but is again female with larger lips and is voiced by Cate Blanchett.
  • Kaa made a cameo appearance in the 2000 Mixing Live Action and Animation Basketball Film Champions where he appears as one of the crowds: he's one of the few The Jungle Book franchise characters to appear in the said film, followed by Baloo,, King Louie, Bagheera and Colonel Hathi.

Voices of Kaa[]

Sterling Holloway - The Jungle Book (1967)

Jim Cummings - The Jungle Book 2/Jungle Cubs/The Jungle Book 3/Disney's House of Mouse

Terrence Scammell - Jungle Book Shonen Mowgli

Sam Elliott - Adventures of Mowgli

Joe Alaskey - The Jungle Book (1990)

Scarlett Johansson - The Jungle Book (2016)

Cate Blanchett - Mowgli: Legend of Jungle

Gallery[]

Jungle-book
Jungle Book Wiki has a collection of images and media related to Kaa which can be found at Kaa/Gallery.
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